# descendant
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English dessendaunte, borrowed from Middle French, from Latin dēscendēns, present participle of descendere, from dē + scandere (“to climb, ascend”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK, US, Canada) IPA: /dɪˈsɛndənt/
** Audio (Southern California); [dɪˈsɛndɛnt]:(file)
* (General Australian) IPA: /dɪˈsendənt/
* Hyphenation: des‧cen‧dant

### Adjective

descendant (not comparable)
* Descending; going down.
    The elevator resumed its descendant trajectory.
** 1830, Thomas Robson (engraver.), The British herald, or Cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility & gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, page 14:Eagle descendant, or descending. See DESCENDANT, and Pl. 22, fig. 6. Eagle descendant, displayed. See Pl. 22, fig. 7. Eagle displayed, recursant. See DISPLAYED RECURSANT, and Pl. 22, […]
** 1984, Charles A. Ravenstein, Air Force combat wings: lineage and honors histories 1947-1977, DIANE Publishing, →ISBN, page 259:Azure, surmounting a cloud argent, an American eagle descendant, wings endorsed proper, between his beak four lightning streaks, […]
* Descending from a biological ancestor.
    Power in the kingdom is transferred in a descendant manner.
** 1892, Arthur Dillon, Gods and Men, page 214:Pitiable sportster, / To choose thy prey so humbly, to seduce / A beggar wench who hath not the high pride / Descendant still from kingly ancestors, / To keep her royal place.
* Proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.

#### Usage notes

See descendent § Usage notes.

#### Alternative forms

* descendent

#### Antonyms

* ascendant, ascendent, ascending
* (antonym(s) of “heraldry”): montant

#### Related terms

* descendancy

#### Translations
### Noun

descendant (plural descendants)
* One of the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.
    Antonyms: ancestor, progenitor; forefather, foremother
    Hypernym: successor
    Meronyms: issue, line, progeny; family; clan
    The patriarch survived many descendants: five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.
* (figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.
    This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants.
* (biology) A later evolutionary type.
    Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.
* (linguistics) A language that is descended from another.
    English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.
* (linguistics) A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language.
    Synonyms: reflex, derivative
    Antonym: etymon
    Coordinate term: cognate
** 1993, Jens Elmegård Rasmussen, “The Slavic i-verbs with an excursus on the Indo-European ē-verbs”, in Bela Brogyanyi, Reiner Lipp, editors, Comparative-Historical Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 479:The direct descendant of this form is the Slavic aorist: Sb.-Cr. nȍsī, dȍnosī.
* (astrology) The intersection of the western (setting) horizon and the ecliptic, its ecliptical longitude; the astrological sign it corresponds to.

#### Usage notes

The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.

#### Synonyms

* (offspring): afterbear, offspring, scion, and see Thesaurus:child & relative

#### Antonyms

* ascendant
* ancestor
* forebear

#### Derived terms

* Afrodescendant
* descendantless
* direct descendant
* indirect descendant
* nondescendant

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### See also

* offspring
* offshoot
* progeny

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēscendentem, the present participle of dēscendere, itself from dē + scandere (“climb, ascend”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /de.sɑ̃.dɑ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Participle

descendant
* present participle of descendre
* (preceded by en) gerund of descendre

### Noun

descendant m (plural descendants, feminine descendante)
* a descendant; one who is the progeny of someone at any distance of time; e.g. a child; a grandchild, etc.

#### Antonyms

* ancêtre m
* ascendant m

### Adjective

descendant (feminine descendante, masculine plural descendants, feminine plural descendantes)
* (which is) descending
    Antonyms: ascendant, montant

#### Derived terms

* compatibilité descendante

### Related terms

* descendance
* descendre

### Further reading

* “descendant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Verb

dēscendant
* third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēscendō